Alaska Hospital Must Show Parents Lacked Decision-Making Power

An Alaska hospital must again face claims that it violated state law by declining to follow a patient’s parents’ directions, and must show it believed in good faith that they lacked decision-making authority, the state’s top court said.

This was the Alaska Supreme Court’s first chance to interpret the state’s Health Care Decisions Act, the court said. It agreed with Providence Health Services-Washington that the law gives hospitals immunity when they act in good faith and in accordance with generally accepted medical standards.

But the law gives a provider immunity for ignoring an agent’s or surrogate’s instructions only when it ...